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LODGING UPDATE- NEW HAMPSHIRE AND THE MOUNT WASHINGTON VALLEY

Memorial Day weekend is the traditional kick off to the Mount Washington Valley’s next tourist season but with stay at home orders Governor Sununu’s emergency order restricting hotels and lodging providers to only offer housing to essential workers and vulnerable populations, it won’t be a blockbuster.

So where are we at now as a state and as a tourist destination?   Janice Crawford, Executive Director for the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce tells us: “We’re trying very hard to make sure we have a safe destination, we want to make sure people can trust us when they make reservations that we’ve been following all the guidelines required by the state and federal level and so I just want to share with our lodging properties and our Airbnb owners that we are very much opposed to allowing anyone to come into the state to stay.  Even from the state of New Hampshire because at this point in time, the state has not opened up lodging.”  There are currently no guidance documents from the state of New Hampshire to follow at this time to ensure the safety of lodging staff or guests.

The NH.gov website states that for safety purposes people should remain in their home state until additional restrictions are lifted.  It also states that individuals who travel to and stay in New Hampshire for an extended period of time to self-quarantine for a 2 week period.

Governor Sununu spoke with WMUR and explains; ”Hotels, especially in New Hampshire, because of tourism,  are designed on the idea that we are going to attract people from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut .  Normally we would like to have those folks right here, but to open right now and attract that tourism business in we need to see the other state’s numbers go down.  Here we are looking at different guidance and how it might be done here and put a lot of guidelines and restrictions but, we are definitely not there yet and unfortunately, I cannot say when it’s going to be but probably not in the near future.”

Keep up to date with the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce website.

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GOVERNOR SUNUNU ANNOUNCES MORE OPENINGS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE

Governor Sununu starts the briefing: “We hope everyone had a great weekend.  The sun was out and clearly late spring, summer is in the air and people are excited to see what we can do to get back to normalcy.”

Efforts are underway to reopen the state safely.  The governor announced today that the state will allow opening up outdoor activities that occur outdoors or in natural settings for groups of no more than 10 with safety restrictions in place.  These categories include, centers for biking, canoe and kayak rentals, mini-golf, outdoor driving ranges, outdoor shooting ranges, small fishing charters and paintball.  Bigger tourist attractions will remain closed under the guidance but will remain in consideration for future reopening phases.

Governor Sununu has also released a general guidance document for childcare centers to protect the staff, and children.  Some of these guidelines include providers and other staff using face coverings as well as all adults dropping off children.  The document includes guidelines for handwashing for both adults and children.  Staff and children will be screened daily for symptoms of, or exposure to COVID-19.  It also talks about guidelines for social distancing and encourages more outdoor time.

Equestrian centers will also be allowed to open and a guidance document has been complied for that category as well.

A guidance document for outdoor dining has been provided as well during this new release of information.

“We’re all pushing ourselves and challenging ourselves to see what can be done in a smart and step-wise manner. And specifically some of the areas we’ve been focusing on relate to personal care and so, we are hoping to get some additional guidance out later in the week and a lot of businesses can start to plan and re-staff up and open in a short period.” says Governor Sununu.

For more information and a complete list of guidance documents released today, please visit nh.gov.

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CONWAY’S DELAYED ELECTION HELD WITH GREAT TURNOUT:

The Conway election was held yesterday and the turnout was better than ever despite the delay caused by COVID-19.  A normal election held in April attracts from 1,200 to 1,500 voters and this year there was a total of 1,457 ballots cast.  In general most of the capital improvements were turned down which will help Conway financially.  Mary Seavey and David Weathers will return to the board of selectmen.  Rodney King is police commissioner and new to the planning board are Earle Sires IV and Ailie Byers.  Elected to the budget committee are the familiar faces of David Jensen and James LeFebvre.  Erik Corbett and Peter Donohoe also won their seats.  Jess Whitelaw, Michelle Capozzoli and Joe Mosca return to the school board unopposed.

For more information on election results please visit: conwaynh.org

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Tuesday, May 12th is Voting Day in Conway!

Tomorrow, Tuesday May 12th, there will be “In-Person Voting” going on from
8 a.m. – 7 p.m. at the Conway Town Public Works Garage, at 1611 East Main St., Center Conway, next to the Center Conway Fire Station.

 

Under the drive-through voting plan developed by town officials, people will NOT have to get out their cars to vote. They will drive into a bay of the large town garage where they will check in and receive their ballots. They will then drive out the back of the building, park their car, and fill out their ballots using their own pen or a disposable golf pencil provided by the town. They will then drop off their ballots with election officials as they drive out of the complex. Sample Ballots are below.

 

Here’s a Sample of the Town Ballot – 2020-Sample-Town-Ballot
Here’s a Sample of the School Ballot – 2020-Sample-School-Ballot

 

For more details on the Town of Conway please visit CONWAYNH.ORG

 

 

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DENTAL OFFICES GIVEN THE GREEN LIGHT TO REOPEN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Most dental offices in the state shut down voluntarily in March except for emergency visits because of the risk of COVID-19 and its unknown factors.  They’ve now been given the green light to reopen in New Hampshire.  In previous discussions with the governor, he spoke about the invasive nature of dentistry and that he was working with individuals all over the industry in New Hampshire to create guidelines for safety and what may be mandated for patients and staff for them to reopen safely.  That day is here.

Governor Sununu announced today that dentists’ offices will be allowed to reopen in New Hampshire if they wish to do so beginning Monday.   There are now guidelines in place to reopen with safety precautions in place.  Governor Sununu shares the cooperation that went into making the decision to open this business category: “This was vetted and approved by the Department of Public Health.  It has stakeholder buy-in from folks across the industry, whether it be dental hygienists, oral surgeons, a variety of folks really came together, especially over this past week, working with our reopen New Hampshire task force to create a document working with the public health, gives, I think, a lot of folks of competence as we go forward to make this opportunity available to the citizens.” 

Last week alone there were thousands of online requests for millions of masks, part of the PPE help coming to help reopen businesses in New Hampshire.  The governor spoke about New Hampshire’s current orders for masks and says they’re steadily coming in.  He says, “The state is working directly with the dental offices themselves to offer assistance in securing PPE, to that they and their patients can work in a safe environment.”

 When asked, Health Commissioner Lori Shibinette said the guidelines are specific to keeping everyone that may be working or visiting a dental office safe and if there were any reason for concern about an outbreak of COVID-19 health officials would issue and alert. 

Patients should be in touch directly with their own dentists and see when their individual offices will open.

For more information on the dental industry guidelines, please visit nh.gov.